WASHINGTON — Environmental and Gulf-based groups filed an amicus brief today in defense of a federal rule that strengthens financial bonding requirements for offshore oil-and-gas projects thereby reducing the risk of leaving abandoned infrastructure in our oceans and their cleanup costs with taxpayers. The Interior Department published the rule in April. 

Oil and gas companies are legally obligated to comply with decommissioning requirements, the last step in the fossil fuel extraction cycle. Decommissioning involves dismantling facilities and returning the surrounding areas to their natural state. Unplugged wells and abandoned infrastructure pose serious threats to public health and safety, vulnerable ecosystems and marine wildlife. 

“The oil and gas industry has been running a long con on the U.S. taxpayer for too long, and BOEM’s final rule on supplemental bonding requirements is a move in the right direction,” said Andrew Hartsig, an expert on offshore oil and gas policy and senior director of Ocean Conservancy’s Arctic Program. “This rule protects against the risk of American tax dollars being used to clean up offshore wells and platforms if oil and gas operators do not meet their decommissioning obligations – and with 18,000 miles of disused pipeline abandoned in U.S. waters alone, it’s clear that this risk is all too real.”

Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi challenged the rulemaking in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in June. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told Reuters that the rule is “a really egregious direct assault on intermediate level producers of oil and gas, and that affects a lot of business in our state.” 

In fact, decommissioning Louisiana’s total unplugged well inventory (which includes offshore wells) could create between 19,094 and 49,138 direct job-years in the state. Meanwhile, over 20,000 Louisiana oil-and-gas jobs have vanished in the last decade — a nearly 60% reduction. 

Between $40-70 billion is currently needed to cover the costs of safely plugging wells, removing platforms, and cleaning up infrastructure. But the government only holds about $3.5 billion in collective financial assurances from the offshore fossil fuel industry to cover the costs of decommissioning if operators fail to pay, which means taxpayers would be the backstop. The new rule adds $6.9 billion to the government’s decommissioning funds, which will not cover the entire $30 billion gap, but will be an important step towards holding operators accountable to pay their costs and meet their obligations.

Earthjustice filed the amicus brief on behalf of Center for Biological Diversity, Healthy Gulf, Oceana, and Ocean Conservancy.

###

ABOUT OCEAN CONSERVANCY  

Ocean Conservancy envisions a healthier ocean, protected by a more just world. Ocean Conservancy is working to protect the ocean from today’s greatest global challenges. Together with our partners, we create evidence-based solutions for a healthy ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it. For more information, visit oceanconservancy.org, or follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram.